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Memorandum to the United Nations Calling for an Investigation into Atrocities Against Untouchables of India by the UN Commissioner for Human Rights The Maharasthra State police forces fired into a peaceful gathering in Mumbai (Bombay) on July 11, 1997, leading to 30 dead Untouchables and hundreds injured. This State action represent a gross violation on the human rights of the caste oppressed people of India, known as Untouchables, and their right to peaceful assembly. Without warning, the police opened fire on innocent Untouchable agitators who had been demanding the arrest of those responsible for desecrating the statue of Dr. Ambedkar, which was garlanded with shoes, an act symbolic of casteism in India. Dr. Ambedkar is considered a hero by the Untouchables of India and in the global Diaspora. During the last seven years, statues of Dr. Ambedkar were profaned over 264 times in the State alone, according to its Chief Minister. The police firing was indiscriminate, uncontrolled, and carried out with intention to kill. The deceased include two women and a child. Police refused to allow injured Untouchables to be taken for medical care, leading to delays and further deaths in the hospital. They continued to fire upon and arrest protesters in the state, killing another three and injuring at least nine. In the city of Wardha, "high" caste Hindus stripped naked and paraded a female Untouchable, Ms. Patil, to further humiliate the marginalized community. A 12 year old Untouchable boy was also burned alive in the city. In Gujarat, "high" caste Hindus tried to destroy another statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Untouchables' attempts to protect the statue led to police firing with 7 dead and many injured. Police attacks on Untoucables who held demonstrations, and on mass organizations in Maharasthra, Delhi, Gujarat, and other parts of India, are attempts to silence protest and conceal the July 11 incident. Due to their control of the media, these "high" caste Hindus are unlikely to face prosecution. This massacre of innocent people is the crudest manifestation of anti-Untouchable policy being consistently pursued by the two fundamentalist Hindu parties - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena government of Maharasthra and other states. Governments at all levels have been openly hostile to the rights of Untouchables in India. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, a Cabinet Minister of the National Government, said that Untouchables need protection in Maharasthra. Last year, the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) stated in its Indian Report - Concluding Observations, that India (i) failed to protect its marginalized people, Untouchables and Tribals, from atrocities committed by "high" caste Hindus, (ii) failed to punish the guilty to the fullest extent of the law, and (iii) failed to give reparations to the victims and dismantle the institutionalized system of "high-caste" and "low-caste" (CERD/C/304/Add.13, dated 17 September, 1996). Even after 50 years of independence, the 250 million victims of the Hindu caste oppression, the Untouchables, cannot fetch water from many village wells, and cannot socialize with villagers because according to Hindu beliefs, their touch pollutes everything. As if non-human, they are separated and segregated in rural India, where 80 percent of the population lives. According to a Human Rights Watch report (September 1996), India has more than 115 million children who are child laborers, which constitutes more than half of the world's child labor. The vast majority of these children are Untouchables and Tribals. The Commission on Social Development report (1996) states that nearly 300 million people are at the starvation level in South Asia, most of whom are Untouchables and Tribals. India is the only country in the world where such an inhumane and cruel system of discrimination has existed for so long as to cause the destitution of nearly 250 million people. According to Hindu religious beliefs, "all human beings are not equal." This belief contradicts the fundamental human rights instruments of the United Nations, and results in apartheid in South Asia. The Indian constitution has abolished the practice of Untouchability and made it a criminal offense, however implementation of the laws are lagging. This is because less than 15 percent of the population, consisting of "high" caste Hindus and their supporters, control over 90 percent of the country's wealth, police, judiciary, and media. Unless the Hindu caste system in South Asia is studied thoroughly and recognized by the UN, the lives of millions will be sealed in child labor, bonded labor, child prostitution and landless labor, virtually as "slaves." In order to maintain peace and security in South Asia, this situation must change. India can easily lapse into another period of violent social unrest. If the Hindu apartheid caste system is not dismantled in time, India may experience yet another uncontrollable civil war which may affect the whole of South Asia. We the members of the following organizations representing the oppressed and neglected peoples of India meeting here in New York at the United Nations Plaza on 21st July, 1997, do hereby resolve that this memorandum be submitted to the Secretary General of the United Nations, with a copy thereof to the President and the Prime Minister of India at New Delhi and the Chief Minister of Maharasthra at Mumbai (Bombay). We call on the UN to investigate the atrocities against Untouchables through its Human Rights High Commissioner, Special Rapporteur on Racism and Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia. and Special Rapporteur on Child Labor and Child Prostitution. We urge you to act now to protect peace and security in the region, before its too late. Signed, at the United Nations Plaza, New York on July 21st, 1997 Volunteers in Service of India's Oppressed and Neglected (VISION), USA International Buhujan Organization (IBO), USA, Canada and UK Shree Guru Ravidass Sabha, USA, Canada, UK, France and India Ambedkar Center for Justice and Peace, Canada, USA and UK Central Committee, Sri Guru Ravi Das Dharmasthans, India Dalit International, USA Ambedkar International Mission, Canada Buddhist International Organization, USA and Canada Indian Buddhist Association, USA Phoolan Devi International Defense Committee, USA Saxakali, USA and Guyana Saxakali
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